Revolution #103, October 7, 2007

Readers Correspond… Challenge Others to Take Up the Revolution $500,000 Expansion and Fund Drive

Raising Funds for and Expanding the Reach of Revolución

Statement from Father Luis Barrios

Support the Revolution Reporters’ Fund Readers of Revolution traveled to Atenco and Oaxaca in Mexico through the eyes and ears of young reporters who lived with, learned from, and wrote about seismic struggles in Mexico in articles like The Changing Landscape of the Mixteca, and Reporter's Notebook from Atenco, Mexico: Real Women Have Machetes. And the article, "Mexico: The Political Volcano Rumbles" (available online at revcom.us/a/060/mexico-volcano-en.html) was chosen by Project Censored for inclusion in “Censored 2008: The Top 25 Censored Stories.”

Father Luis Barrios, activist, spiritual advisor of Iglesia San Romero de Las Americas and an associate priest at St. Mary's Church. He is also a professor in the Puerto Rican/Latin American Studies Department at John Jay College, wanted to share some thoughts on why he regularly reads, distributes and has donated to Revolution newspaper and why others should too:

Revolution newspaper is a vehicle in English and Spanish, educating about the real issues. Take the example of immigration issue—it does critical analysis, why people come here, how they came, interdependence between struggle here and countries people come from, connections with class struggle, xenophobia and immigration control laws.

Revolution newspaper challenges people: It asks you what are you going to do about it? It points to revolutionary solutions. Why subscribe? It is a revolutionary investment. Subscribe, my friend, it's important. Subscribing is a revolutionary act. 

Some of us have the ability to contribute more—donate so other can get this newspaper.

Like I always say, 'Knowledge is power'—we need to empower people for the revolution.

As a religious person, I see spirituality connected to the search for the truth. This newspaper brings truth to the people. This newspaper is an important vehicle for revolution.

I make photocopies of articles for students in my classes. A lot of the articles relate to classes I teach, such as "Latinos/Latinas in the U.S. Prison System". These are powerful articles that mean a lot to my students.

*****

Statement read at the LA Fund Drive Kick-off signed by “3 generations of Black People living in Watts:

Translating Revolution Into Spanish—Expanding the Distribution of Revolución Producing Revolución, the weekly Spanish edition of Revolution, is essential to our mission. Revolución reaches a Spanish-speaking and bilingual audience in the U.S., and the Spanish-speaking world. Revolución aims to improve the quality of the translations, to translate articles in a more timely way, and to maintain a stronger Spanish-language section of revcom.us. Think about what is involved in not only writing articles hot on the heels of events, on a weekly basis—but also getting them translated in time for publication. And then donate, and raise money, for the Revolution expansion and fund drive.

We are donating to the Revolution Newspaper half million dollar fund drive. We are raising money to get Spanish translators because the Spanish papers need to get out to people who speak Spanish every week. We are all brothers and sisters and we need to be able to communicate with each other. We can do this through the pages of the newspaper. We can get to know about each others lives.

We need this so people could have a broader understanding of a revolutionary communist way of life. So all of us could think in the same direction for the cause of revolution. Which would make a better life for the whole of humanity. As brothers and sisters we won’t be fighting against each other, we’ll be fighting for each other and for the betterment of humanity.

*****

Testimonial read at New York Kick Off and translated into English:

Comrades and Proletarians throughout the world,

First of all, I'd like to speak of the kind of world in which we live under this Yankee imperialist beast, around the world and right here in the U.S. Under the boot of Police Brutality murdering the youth, imprisoning people indefinitely and torturing them in their concentration camps in Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib. Abandoning thousands of Blacks on the edge of death in New Orleans, invading countries with unjust wars and imposing borders, like that between Mexico/U.S., forcing thousands of immigrants to leave their countries and cross deserts to seek a better quality of life or die in the attempt, and if this wasn't enough, the White House plans to invade Iran with threats of nuclear war ...

Due to these and other atrocities, from here and forward we must prevent this from continuing. We must push forward this campaign more widely and broadly than ever, putting thousands of copies of Revolution in the hands of everyone, arousing others to become part of this campaign, distributing and contributing, so that Revolution is read in all the barrios, projects, schools, work zones, etc., and to unmask the truth of this system and prepare the masses for revolution in this country and in this way construct a new and different society from that which exists today.  

Unite - Organize - Contribute. We can achieve this, and I believe that we are the hope of all those who are oppressed by this government…

The future is unwritten, and our fate depends on ourselves...

Donate! sustain! subscribe! and get involved in the Revolution Expansion and Fund Drive at revcom.us

Or send checks or money orders to RCP Publications, Box 3486 Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 60654-0486 or call 773-227-4066

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